1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to file systems for computer data and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for exposing a capability of a storage volume used to store files as a property of the files stored on the volume.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer data within modern computer systems may be stored on a number of volumes under a single file system. Thus, a single computer system may have the capability of storing information in various types of storage volumes including mirrored storage, RAID-5 storage, RAID-3 storage, standard single disk drive storage, archival storage and the like. A single file system executed by the computer may store information across many of these volumes.
Typically, a user is unaware of the storage capabilities of the various volumes that are available by looking at the file system alone. Furthermore, a user is generally unaware of the specific geometry of the file system. As such, the computer system, as configured by an administrator, selects the appropriate storage for a file. The selected storage may not have the storage capabilities that the user would select, if the user had knowledge of other capabilities. As such, a file may be stored in mirrored storage even though a user believes that a RAID-5 storage volume is more appropriate for the file.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a technique that exposes the storage properties of storage volumes used by a file system to a user such that the user can intelligently utilize the available storage volumes.